A Surrealist Collector’s Journey from Mexico to Europe | A Private Sale A Surrealist Collector’s Journey from Mexico to Europe | A Private Sale
Most great Surrealist collections begin with traditional European classics, works made in Europe during the 1930s and early 1940s, by artists such as Rene Magritte or Max Ernst. Few collectors start with the Surrealists “in exile,” those artists like Wolfgang Paalen and Leonora Carrington who emigrated to Mexico City from Europe during World War II. But this is exactly where this collector began.
While accompanying Wendi Norris on trips to Mexico City in the early 2000s, the collector met Leonora Carrington, visited the largest collection of Paalen’s work, and spent time with Remedios Varo’s widow amidst the late artist’s great retrospective at the Museo de Arte Moderno. It was through these very experiences that the collector found inspiration to dedicate nearly two decades to amassing a masterful modern collection, of which part is on offer today.
From the Surrealists in exile, he traced the art historical thread to works created by their artist peers immediately prior to the start of the war and their imminent dispersion throughout the world - biomorphic atmospheres of Yves Tanguy, a talisman of political revolt by André Masson, a skeletal portrait by Paul Delvaux.
Gallery Wendi Norris is proud to privately sell these works as the owner transitions to a new phase in life. The art has been lovingly cared for and exhibited in the collector’s home in Northern California and generously lent to seminal museum exhibitions worldwide. LEONORA CARRINGTON
Quería ser pájaro, 1960 Oil on canvas 47 ½ x 35 ½ inches (120.6 x 90.1 cm) Framed: 60 x 48 ½ x 5 ½ inches $2,250,000
LEONORA CARRINGTON
Hierophante, Pour Dauphine, 1958 Oil on canvas 38 ½ x 19 inches (97.79 x 48.2 cm) Framed: 46 x 26 ½ x 3 inches $1,250,000
LEONORA CARRINGTON
Lepidoptera, 1968 Oil on canvas 48 X 27 ½ inches (121.9 x 69.8 cm) Framed: 53 x 32 ½ x 3 inches $450,000
WOLFGANG PAALEN
La dépouille immortelle, 1937 Oil and fumage on canvas 13 x 9 2/5 inches (33 x 24 cm) Framed: 20 ½ x 17 ½ x 1 ½ inches $350,000
WOLFGANG PAALEN
Projet pour un monument, 1948 Wood 45 x 10 inches (114 x 25 cm) $400,000 REMEDIOS VARO
La batalla, 1947 Gouache on paper mounted on board 15 x 10 7/8 inches (38.1 x 27.6 cm) Framed: 28 ½ x 24 x 1 ½ inches $350,000
GUNTHER GERSZO
Ciudad desde arriba, 1955 Oil on canvas 29 x 21 1/2 inches (73 1/2 x 54 1/2 cm) $220,000
LEONOR FINI
Nebbia, 1982 Oil on canvas 38 ½ x 31 inches (97.1 x 78.7 cm) Framed: 48 x 41 x 2 inches $350,000
LEONOR FINI
Portrait of Leonora Carrington, 1939 Oil on canvas 25 3/16 x 20 7/8 inches (63.9 x 53 cm) Framed: 33 x 28 ½ x 3 ½ inches $550,000
YVES TANGUY
Le Lourd Palais, 1935 Oil on canvas affixed to board 10 x 13 inches (25.4 x 33 cm) Framed: 17 ½ x 20 ½ x 2 inches $1,500,000
YVES TANGUY
Merveilles des mers, 1936 Oil on canvas 21 ½ x 18 inches (54.6 x 45.7 cm) Framed: 29 x 25 ½ x 2 inches $2,750,000
ANDRÉ MASSON
La fauteuil Louis XVI, 1938 Oil on canvas 29 x 24 inches (73.6 x 60 cm) Framed: 37 x 32 x 3 ½ inches $1,750,000
VICTOR BRAUNER
Personnage dans un paysage surréaliste, 1935 Oil on panel 30 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches (78 x 17 cm) $115,000
PAUL DELVAUX
Squelette dans l'atelier, 1945 Oil on canvas 61 ½ x 23 5/8 inches (157 x 60 cm) Framed: 71 ½ 33 1/8 x 2 5/8 inches $950,000
ÓSCAR DOMÍNGUEZ
Minotaure, 1951 Oil on canvas 16 x 18 inches (41 x 33 cm) $180,000 DOROTHEA TANNING
Visite jaune (Visite éclair), 1960 Oil on canvas 35 x 45 inches (88.9 x 114.3cm) Framed: 36 ½ x 46 ½ inches $600,000
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